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I don't think ludja has started a 2007 cookbook thread yet (see here for 2006 and here for 2005) so I'm going to beat her to it by starting one here.

Any books you're looking forward to in 2007? Here are a few of mine:

Fuschia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province. From the book description:

Fuchsia Dunlop is the author of the much-loved and critically acclaimed Sichuanese cookbook Land of Plenty, which won the British Guild of Food Writers' Jeremy Round Award for best first book and which critic John Thorne called "a seminal exploration of one of China's great regional cuisines." Now, with Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, she introduces us to the delicious tastes of Hunan, Chairman Mao's home province.

Hunan is renowned for the fiery spirit of its people, its beautiful scenery, and its hearty peasant cooking. In a selection of classic recipes interwoven with a wealth of history, legend, and anecdote, Dunlop brings to life this vibrant culinary region. Look for late imperial recipes like Numbing-and-Hot Chicken, Chairman Mao's favorite Red-Braised Pork, soothing stews, and a myriad of colorful vegetable stir-fries. 65 color illustrations.

The Glory of Southern Cooking by James Villas. An article in Saveur noted that the cold-oven pound cake recipe is particularly good; I still haven't found a recipe that matches my mom's, so I'll be trying this one. From Publisher's Weekly:

Villas, the former food and wine editor of Town & Country and the author of 12 cookbooks, explores the distinctive cuisine of Southern cooking. Villas sees Southern cookery as the only legitimate cuisine in this county, being on the same level with French and Italian home cooking. His collection spans the entirety of the Southern states, including recipes for such classics as fried chicken, pork barbecue, and grits and greens, and lesser known dishes such as Baked Oysters with Mustard Greens and Bacon, Nashville Turnip Greens with Ham Hock, and Memphis Casserole Cheese Bread. Recipes highlight the abundance of natural food ingredients found in the South as well as the multitude of ethnic influences that contributed to the cuisine's evolution. Chapters include Cocktail and Tea Foods; Soups, Chowders, and Gumbos; Rice and Grits; and Cornbread, Biscuits, Hush Puppies, and Other Breads. Villas also provides helpful sections on equipment, ingredients, special cooking techniques, and a glossary of terms for those unfamiliar with the cuisine. This is a solid primer for those who like comfort food or have an interest in Southern cooking.

Nancy Silverton's A Twist of the Wrist: Quick Flavorful Meals with Ingredients from Jars, Cans, Bags and Boxes. Note that this isn't your run-of-the-mill quick-fix cookbook. From Publisher's Weekly:

Starred Review. In this beautifully illustrated book, renowned Los Angeles baker and chef Silverton (Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book) uses premium prepared ingredients as shortcuts to ease the home cooking time crunch. Most recipes are timed at 30 minutes or less, but the elegance and seeming difficulty of the dishes set them apart from the usual quick-fix crowd pleasers: Pomegranate-Glazed Lamb Chops with Stuffed Grape Leaves and Tahini Sauce, or Buttermilk-Fried Oysters with Pickled Vegetables and Chipotle Mayonnaise sound like they should take much longer than half an hour, but with the ready-made ingredients, few cooks will have a problem. They might, however, have trouble actually finding those ingredients; even big-city dwellers may have to turn to the Internet for specialty items like green masala paste or fennel pollen, though a helpful glossary provides insight into locating them and some substitutions. Famous chef friends like Charlie Trotter and Mario Batali provide recipes revealing their own secret shortcuts. Fans of Silverton's last book will love the chapter on crostini with innovative toppings like ventresca, piquillo peppers and caper mayonnaise, using leftovers from jars bought for other recipes. Cooks looking for upscale yet quick meal ideas, and who will pay extra for pricey exotic items, are sure to appreciate this stylish cheat sheet.

ahem, another list i'm on allows for something called BSP (blatant self-promotion). file this under that heading (or however you choose to file it):
(starred review in PW): "How to Pick a Peach", Russ Parsons: "Equal parts cookbook, agricultural history, chemistry lesson and produce buying guide, this densely packed book is a food lover's delight...For readers who have always wondered where their food comes from, why it tastes the way it does and how to pick a peach, a melon or a green bean, this book will be an invaluable resource."

I just got it so I don't have an opinion on it yet. It looks very interesting.

It's pretty. I looked at it when it first arrived and it's been on the shelf ever since. If you cook a lot, there's a pretty good chance there's not much new there. But I can see reading all the text one of these days.

Edited by rancho_gordo, 13 April 2007 - 01:02 PM.

Visit beautiful Rancho Gordo!Twitter @RanchoGordo"How do you say 'Yum-o' in Swedish? Or is it Swiss? What do they speak in Switzerland?"- Rachel Ray

Barbecue Nation -- yeah, I know, there's a thousand barbecue books out there. This one isn't fundamentally that much different, but the guy went around the country (gaining 20 pounds in the process) and includes recipes from cooks from all over. It's got a nice mix of barbecue and grilling. Not essential, but not bad.

The Deen Brothers -- this surprised the hell out of me. It's a compilation of recipes from their Road Tasted show. They adapted recipes for signature dishes from featured restaurants. At least they give the restaurants prominent credit.

Discovering Korean Cuisine - there might be better Korean cookbooks out there, but I thought this was a great introduction. Lots of photos.

Ripe seasonal fruits. Fragrant vanilla, toasted nuts, and spices. Heavy cream and bright liqueurs. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. ...With an emphasis on intense and sophisticated flavors, an international flair, and a bountiful helping of seasoned technique, this collection of frozen treats ranges from classic and comforting (Chocolate Sorbet) to contemporary and cutting edge (Mojito Granita). Spilling over with scrumptious sauces, crunchy toppings, and surprising mix-ins.

and

Experts and novices alike will appreciate tips for selecting the best citrus and creating unusual but complementary pairings (apricots go nicely with Olive Oil Ice Cream). An impressive array of flavors is available for the making, like Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream, Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, Fresh Fig Ice Cream and Pear Pecorino Ice Cream. Sorbet, sherbet and granita also are explored in depth, as are ice cream "vessels," such as brownies and crepes. Great photos and plenty of practical advice combine to make this an appealing and useful resource for the dessert aficionado.

I need to check this out; I already have Luchetti's ice cream book from last year penciled in on my list but this sounds wonderful as well.

For those who want a quirky cookbook, a trio of Melbourne women (Leah Holscher, Rachel Pitts, and Katherine Bird) have self-published their "Hungry Girls Cookbook". It's a collection of favourite recipes with stories and photography. I think they made about 500 copies, and it's $AUS35.00. The only place I've seen it is Readings bookstore (www.readings.com.au)

I was flicking through 'Pork and Sons' at the weekend, perfect for those of us who love all things porky, See here for detailsAmusingly Amazon have paired it with a vegetable cookbook in their 'better together' section!

Well, if others can do it for themselves, why not me? My own "Rogues, Writers and Whores".

As reviewed in Publishers Weekly: The title is not the only thing saucy in this rich collection that matches 69 brief, punchy biographies of historical foodies with the recipes for which they are associated. Several of the subjects are, themselves, the essence of sauce. There's Louis de Bachameil, for whom the famous French concoction was named; the mysterious Suzette, she of the flaming crepe; and tart-baker Franz Sacher, "a fun-loving man who consumed enormous amounts of his own pastries." Among the rogues' gallery, Lucrezia Borgia had a leek tart named for her on her wedding day (though the food taster probably had the first bite) and the Marquis de Sade enjoyed not whipped cream but rather, Partridge à la Burgundy, brutally stuffed with grapes, chorizo and prosciutto. Though some concoctions prove complex, the writing throughout is refreshingly free of pretense. Rogov, the wine and restaurant critic for the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, includes only three Americans—Hemingway, Alice B. Toklas and A.J. Liebling—who are best known for their overseas exploits. Papa is paired with sautéed goose liver, a favorite Parisian dish. It's duckling for Toklas, and Liebling evidently once gorged on Lobster Quenelles in Shrimp Sauce. Bonus points for the many amusing illustrations by Yael Hershberg, which include Louis XIV confronting a pineapple.

Another egullet member also has a book coming out later this spring: The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.

I was just up at Chocolate Arts on my lunch break, and they had this book on display at the front counter. I did a quick flip-through in the store, and it looked amazing. Gorgeous photography, and all the recipes look delicious. Of course I had to buy it. Even though it's pouring rain here, it makes me want to make ice cream. Now.

Silverton, drawing on the habits of her own circle of acquaintances, has recognized that unless takeout is to completely overtake home cooking, today's two-career families and busy singles need help. She offers it by showing that you can create restaurant-worthy (or better) food by incorporating high-quality prepared ingredients into your cooking. Researching retail sources, Silverton found plenty of prepared foods that will not compromise the quality of a dish, be it marinated tuna from Italy, French butter cookies, prepared salsa and horseradish; canned black or cannellini beans; frozen corn and edamame, or instant polenta. She utilizes these time-savers in a tempting array of dishes, mostly of her own design but also gleaned from chef friends who share her conviction that from-scratch cooking isn't the only way to culinary nirvana.

The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink edited by Andrew F. Smith (Oxford University Press, 693 pages, $49.95).

You can read up on that grandest and grossest of American gourmands, Diamond Jim Brady; learn about hard tack; find out what slave keepers fed their field crews; explore the origins of the juice bar (in Los Angeles, 1926), and how Irish coffee became an American bar staple (with the help of The Chronicle's late raconteur/columnist Stanton Delaplane).

Fergus Henderson has got a new book coming out in August - Beyond Nose to Tail: A Kind Of British Cooking, Part II. I understand there's going to be more on bakery and desserts in it than were in Beyond Nose to Tail. Should be a belter.

Always an experimenter, tinkerer, and thinker, the renowned baker and three-time Cookbook of the Year winner Alice Medrich expands the dessert-making vocabulary in Pure Dessert. Using an exciting array of delicate handmade cheeses, wholesome grains, and other ingredients (often ethnic) that are now widely available, she broadens our flavor palate even as she simplifies and demystifies baking techniques.

Grains such as buckwheat bring a lovely nutty quality to cookies and strawberry shortcake. Pound cake takes on a whole new identity with a touch of olive oil and sherry. Chestnut flour and walnuts virtually transform meringue. Varietal honeys and raw sugars infuse ice creams and sherbets with delectable new flavor.

Anybody own or seen Arabesque? I am leary only because I am half Middle Eastern and well, my late grandmother and now my mom set a pretty tough standard but at the same time I am really curious about it after hearing Claudia Roden on The Splendid Table. I think it was last week or the week before. Meanwhile I had ordered a copy of A Return to Cooking for a friend as a gift and it was backordered on Amazon until later this month. :( Had to go with an alternative.

My daughter and I both own Arabesque. I enjoy it, it's a nice book to cook from, but I was a chef in at a tapas/mezze restaurant so I really pump up the flavors. I love the way it's organized by region and starters to desserts in each region. Just a very enjoyable book.

My latest purchase is Chocolate & Zucchini by Clotilde Dusoulier who also did the food photos. For those who don't know, Clotilde lives in Paris and has a very helpful and well written blog (in English) which is as delicious as her recipes. This one is a keeper!!!

My daughter and I both own Arabesque. I enjoy it, it's a nice book to cook from, but I was a chef in at a tapas/mezze restaurant so I really pump up the flavors. I love the way it's organized by region and starters to desserts in each region. Just a very enjoyable book.

Oh I agree about boosting the flavors. I have a great cookbook from my late grandmother's church of Syrian ( Lebanese) recipes and we always adjust the seasoning for things like grapeleaves and stuff. I think most recipes just play it safe when it comes to the amount.

Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells. Purchased last weekend and already well-read but not yet tested.

I'm a fan of her previous cookbooks as reliable sources of recipes for classic, relatively easy French food. This one seems different, however, more original and modern in its approach. It has gotten great reviews, and I think will live up to the hype.

I was flicking through 'Pork and Sons' at the weekend, perfect for those of us who love all things porky, See here for details

I found this book in a store in Beaune last year, and wanted to buy it them, but A) it was HUGE and I was still travelling, and B) it was originally published in French (Cochon et Fils) and my French is sketchy at best.

Thankfully I found it last weekend at Powell's in Portland, OR ... much smaller, and now translated into English!

What a beautiful and poignant book! Stunning photography and a touching insight into the lives of those who depend on the pig. Makes me wonder how I ever survived without boudin noir.

"The Botanical cookbook" by Paul Wilson. The Botanical is an award winning restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. The book has a similar layout and feel to the books that Artisan releases.

"The Pig, The Olive, And The Squid: Food And Wine from Humble Beginnings" by Greg Powell. I think the book's publishers are trying to set up Australia's answer to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Personally, I'd stick with Hugh.

Just got The Summer Shack Cookbook by Jasper White for my birthday. Great read so far including a lot of material that is not in his other books (if you put all of his cookbooks together, it's hard to imagine there is an aspect of New England seafood that isn't covered.)

Doesn't include all of his Summer Shack recipes, as many of those were in previous cookbooks (like Lobster at Home or Cooking from New England), but there are many more in this one that seem worth trying.

"If the divine creator has taken pains to give us delicious and exquisite things to eat, the least we can do is prepare them well and serve them with ceremony."~ Fernand Point

Fergus Henderson has got a new book coming out in August - Beyond Nose to Tail: A Kind Of British Cooking, Part II. I understand there's going to be more on bakery and desserts in it than were in Beyond Nose to Tail. Should be a belter.

Just got The Summer Shack Cookbook by Jasper White for my birthday. Great read so far including a lot of material that is not in his other books (if you put all of his cookbooks together, it's hard to imagine there is an aspect of New England seafood that isn't covered.)

Doesn't include all of his Summer Shack recipes, as many of those were in previous cookbooks (like Lobster at Home or Cooking from New England), but there are many more in this one that seem worth trying.